2015: Schweikert Effectively Voted Against Allowing The U.S. Attorney General To Deny Suspected Or Known Terrorist From Buying Firearms. In December 2015, Schweikert effectively voted against allowing the U.S. Attorney General to prevent suspected or known terrorists from purchasing a firearm. According to Congressional Quarterly, the privileged resolution would have "allow[ed] the Attorney General to deny the sale or transfer of firearms to individuals suspected of engaging in or assisting terrorist activities." The Pelosi privileged resolution would direct the Speaker to place on the calendar the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act. The vote was on a motion to table the motion to appeal the ruling of the Chair that the privileged resolution is out of order. The House tabled the motion to appeal the ruling of the Chair by a vote of 242 to 173. [House Vote 688, 12/10/15; Congressional Quarterly, 12/3/15]
December 2, 2015: Two Assailants Opened Fire And Killed And Wounded Nearly Three Dozen People In San Bernardino As An Act Of Terrorism. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Two assailants opened fire in San Bernardino at a holiday party in the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday. Fourteen people were killed and 21 wounded, most of them county employees. The Times is collecting their stories. The two attackers, who were married, were killed in a gun battle with police. They were U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook and Pakistan national Tashfeen Malik, and had an arsenal of ammunition and pipe bombs in their Redlands home. There is no sign the couple were part of a terrorist network, officials said, but the FBI is officially investigating the shooting as terrorism and President Obama called it an 'act of terrorism.' Federal law enforcement sources say the attack might also be workplace related." [Los Angeles Times, 12/7/15]
White House: From 2000 To 2014, 2,000 People On The Terror Watch List Bought Guns. According to the White House, "The need to act could not be more clear. From 2004 to 2014, for example, 2,000 people on the terror watch list were able to purchase guns." [White House, 12/6/15]
President Obama: "Right Now, People On The No-Fly List Can Walk Into A Store And Buy A Gun. That Is Insane." According to President Obama via CNN, "'Right now, people on the No-Fly list can walk into a store and buy a gun. That is insane. If you're too dangerous to board a plane, you're too dangerous, by definition, to buy a gun,' he said in his weekly address. 'And so I'm calling on Congress to close this loophole, now. We may not be able to prevent every tragedy, but -- at a bare minimum -- we shouldn't be making it so easy for potential terrorists or criminals to get their hands on a gun that they could use against Americans.'" [CNN, 12/5/15]
Politifact: Mostly False Claim By Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) That 700,000 Americans Could Be Affected By Measure. According to Politifact, "Democrats' proposed legislation to stop terrorists from buying guns would unintentionally harm the Second Amendment rights of everyday Americans, said presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. [...] 'If these were perfect lists, that would be one thing,' he said. 'But there are over 700,000 Americans on some watch list or another that would all be captured under this amendment the Democrats offered. And that's the problem.' [...] A Terrorist Screening Center spokesman declined to comment on the watch list's current size, but we found an estimate on a 2011 FBI fact-sheet that put it at 420,000 individuals. Of those, only about 8,400 were American citizens or legal residents. The no-fly list subset included about 16,000 names, only 500 of whom were Americans. Current estimates of the number of people on the list -- foreign and American combined -- now hover around 700,000, the number Rubio cited. [...] 'Rubio is almost certainly off by orders of magnitude,' said Edgar, now a visiting fellow at Brown University. [...] While it's reasonable to estimate that there are 700,000 people on this list, only a small fraction are American citizens or legal residents. Experts said it's likely that only about 10,000 are Americans, while the rest are foreigners. We rate Rubio's claim Mostly False." [Politifact, 12/6/15]
2015: Schweikert Effectively Voted Against Allowing The U.S. Attorney General To Deny Suspected Or Known Terrorist From Buying Firearms. In December 2015, Schweikert effectively voted against allowing the U.S. Attorney General to prevent suspected or known terrorists from purchasing a firearm. According to Congressional Quarterly, the motion to recommit would have "grant[ed] the Attorney General authority to deny the sale or transfer of firearms, and to deny the issuance of federal firearms licenses, to any individuals known or suspected of engaging in conduct constituting, relating to or in support of terrorism." The underlying legislation was the Red River Private Property Protection Act. The vote was on a motion to table the motion to appeal the ruling of the Chair that the motion to recommit was out of order. The House tabled the motion to recommit by a vote of 246 to 182. [House Vote 685, 12/9/15; Congressional Quarterly, 12/3/15]
December 2, 2015: Two Assailants Opened Fire And Killed And Wounded Nearly Three Dozen People In San Bernardino As An Act Of Terrorism. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Two assailants opened fire in San Bernardino at a holiday party in the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday. Fourteen people were killed and 21 wounded, most of them county employees. The Times is collecting their stories. The two attackers, who were married, were killed in a gun battle with police. They were U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook and Pakistan national Tashfeen Malik, and had an arsenal of ammunition and pipe bombs in their Redlands home. There is no sign the couple were part of a terrorist network, officials said, but the FBI is officially investigating the shooting as terrorism and President Obama called it an 'act of terrorism.' Federal law enforcement sources say the attack might also be workplace related." [Los Angeles Times, 12/7/15]
White House: From 2000 To 2014, 2,000 People On The Terror Watch List Bought Guns. According to the White House, "The need to act could not be more clear. From 2004 to 2014, for example, 2,000 people on the terror watch list were able to purchase guns." [White House, 12/6/15]
President Obama: "Right Now, People On The No-Fly List Can Walk Into A Store And Buy A Gun. That Is Insane." According to President Obama via CNN, "'Right now, people on the No-Fly list can walk into a store and buy a gun. That is insane. If you're too dangerous to board a plane, you're too dangerous, by definition, to buy a gun,' he said in his weekly address. 'And so I'm calling on Congress to close this loophole, now. We may not be able to prevent every tragedy, but -- at a bare minimum -- we shouldn't be making it so easy for potential terrorists or criminals to get their hands on a gun that they could use against Americans.'" [CNN, 12/5/15]
Politifact: Mostly False Claim By Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) That 700,000 Americans Could Be Affected By Measure. According to Politifact, "Democrats' proposed legislation to stop terrorists from buying guns would unintentionally harm the Second Amendment rights of everyday Americans, said presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. [...] 'If these were perfect lists, that would be one thing,' he said. 'But there are over 700,000 Americans on some watch list or another that would all be captured under this amendment the Democrats offered. And that's the problem.' [...] A Terrorist Screening Center spokesman declined to comment on the watch list's current size, but we found an estimate on a 2011 FBI fact-sheet that put it at 420,000 individuals. Of those, only about 8,400 were American citizens or legal residents. The no-fly list subset included about 16,000 names, only 500 of whom were Americans. Current estimates of the number of people on the list -- foreign and American combined -- now hover around 700,000, the number Rubio cited. [...] 'Rubio is almost certainly off by orders of magnitude,' said Edgar, now a visiting fellow at Brown University. [...] While it's reasonable to estimate that there are 700,000 people on this list, only a small fraction are American citizens or legal residents. Experts said it's likely that only about 10,000 are Americans, while the rest are foreigners. We rate Rubio's claim Mostly False." [Politifact, 12/6/15]